No Longer Heard
by Donnie's Kunoichi
Summary: Takes place before "Mutagen Man Unleashed". A depressed Donnie's feelings have hit their maximum peak, causing him to forever abandon his family while he tries to sort himself out on his own. He comes across some things on his short-lived journey, not realizing that leaving will be one of the most fatal things he's ever done. Warning: Character and OC death, depression, angst, etc.
1. Prelude

Before Note: Something fatefully bad happened in my life…I want to write my feelings out. I apologize to any Donatello fans, but some pretty gruesome things happen to him in this fanfic and eventually result in…too much information. I'm sorry, but I'm just very, very sad…

More chapters will come in a while, but for now, just have this short chapter in Donnie's perspective.

Disclaimer: If I owned TMNT, Donnie would unfortunately be dead if this occurred.

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Prelude-

"Don't! Don't touch me! You keep away from me! I never want to see your faces…EVER again!"

_Everytime I was left alone, not a single thought on my mind, those words would ring in my head…over and over and over. Every single pitch of April's betrayed voice burned my head painfully. I could no longer think straight, my commitment to training and patrol were dwindling…and so was my attitude. _

_I was no longer myself after that day. That day since April left us…left me, for good. She never answered my calls or texts, I tried to visit her at her apartment, but she only locked every door and window available for me to enter. Her threats to permanently delete me from her life got stronger every time I bothered her, so with a heavy heart, it felt best for me to just leave her alone. My brothers did everything they could to comfort me, but nothing, absolutely nothing could talk me out of my mood. _

_Depression soon came over me. I found that I couldn't do anything willingly that I always liked to do. I never ate at the table with my family, just grabbed something small to eat before going back to my room or lab. I could never sleep, only being able to after at least 6 hours awake into the night before waking up again, or more accurately, being woken up by one of my brothers, an hour later for dojo practice. But I got so tired I could barely lift my staff. Sensei still pushed me though. He found it that I should forget about my ailments and focus on more important things. I barley spoke to anyone, got severe headaches, and injured myself quite often because I never paid attention to what I was doing. The quality of my science experiments were decreasing, meaning that they were useless. My desperation to find a cure for April's father didn't last long, and soon, I was just left an empty, sad turtle who found that he had no purpose in life anymore. I was absolutely done._

_…What was the purpose of living anymore…?_


	2. Chapter 1-Unwilling

Before Note: I thank a lot of you for the views and favorites/follows of this new story. I know I had promised my other stories updated for you in the future, but I'm much too sad to continue on that objective. I'm just typing this to stem my own sadness that I'm suffering really badly at the moment. I'm really sorry, I'm not sure when I'll be in the mood to continue on my other stories…

Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT.

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**Chapter 1-Unwilling**

"Okay, who's turn is it to wake him up now?"

"Well, it obviously ain't mine. Besides, I'm sick of having to deal with his attitude in the morning."

"Oh, look who's talking, Raphie!"

"Shut up!" _SLAP._

"Ow!"

"Enough! C'mon guys, let's not have a debate over this. Donnie's our brother, there's no reason to gamble over the responsibilities we have over him. He's not a toy."

"You say that, yet you're out here with us waitin' to see who's gonna wake him up. Ever try livin' up to your own advice?"

"Raph, please don't…"

"Don't what?"

As the three turtles continued their small argument, Donatello listened silently from his room, knowing that they stood right outside his door. Judging from the volume and their observable words, he knew that they probably didn't know that he was awake by now. He didn't care. He wasn't in the right state of mind to stop them, just let them continue while he pondered his depression.

He'd been the way he is now for at least two weeks. His knowledgeable mind was dwindling, only being replaced with despair and the thought of losing April over again. He soon found that he could no longer put his dedication and hard work into his experiments anymore, and the only things that he was brought down to doing was staying in his room, laying on his bed and occasionally playing with small things he left on his lumpy mattress. One of those many things happened to be his phone, where a digital photo of April and himself always stood for him to stare at every time he turned on the monitor. His arms were wrapped around the redheaded girl tightly in a hug while one of her hands waved at the camera lens on the phone that Mikey was using to take the picture. They both looked so happy, so proud to be friends, almost as if they knew nothing could get in the way of their friendship. That was no longer was the case. In Donnie's eyes, the picture was dead along with his former good feelings. Unfortunately, he couldn't find the strength to get rid of the picture, no matter how much pain it gave him with all the times he's stared at it. It gave him only fragments of the good times he's had with April, while at the same time, the more stronger memories of her anger towards him were soon to take over.

The depressed turtle was sat still in his bed, hugging his bare knees close to him while his blanket was draped over his shoulders and back. He had been up for at least an hour, but refused to get dressed, completely maskless, all knee and elbow pads and belt strewn on the floor. His usual bright burgundy eyes were now dull, only interested in staring at objects lower than chest level. His fingers trailed along his messy sheets of his bed, his eyes following their movement.

He didn't even bother to look up when his door was suddenly opened, sensing the movement of his three brothers entering and heading his direction. He knew the looks on their faces, no guess that they were pretty surprised that their prediction was wrong and that Donnie was already up. He'd usually smile at the thought, but even his face muscles froze into a depression.

Leonardo took a step further than the other two, tempting to hold his hand out to his sad little brother. "Hey…Donnie. We didn't know you were up already."

Donnie couldn't blame them. The common schedule consisted of the purple-clad turtle always being woken up by a family member, minutes before morning training. Donnie always used to be up early in the morning before everybody, besides Leo, always eager to continue where he left off on his experiments. Nowadays, he was only eager in staying in his bed while he toyed with his belongings absently. He chose not to respond to Leo's statement. As if he hadn't said anything to anyone in days.

Raphael's bright green eyes softened by a fraction at the sight of Donnie. It really hurt him to see his brother like this, but he also wanted the tall turtle to toughen up a bit and forget about what ailed him. Sure, they were all shunned and hurt by April's abandonment on their friendship, including him, and things as terrible as that usually didn't go through his thick skin. But at least three out of the four of them were able to deal, and they needed their brainy brother back. He could understand his brother's pain however; April had bonded closer to Donnie than anyone else, and a bond that strong as theirs that had been broken unintentionally would naturally break his heart. But Raph just wanted the same old Donnie back, as much as the other two did. He'd never admit it, but frankly, it frightened him quite much to see the usual sweet turtle in such a depressed stupor. He wanted to blame April for the cause of Donnie's state, but knew it wouldn't be right. It was her choice to distance herself from them. After all, it was their fault…

"Donnie…?" Leo continued.

The addressed turtle continued his silence.

It was Michelangelo's turn to speak up. The youngest turtle walked up to his bedridden brother and sat himself next to Donnie's hunched-over form. He rested a hand on Donnie's shoulder. "Dude, c'mon! Sensei's waiting for us, we gotta go in a few minutes. Y'know you missed breakfast? Maybe after training, I could fix you up one of my famous pizza omelets?" He said the last sentence in an inviting tone, adding a reassuring smile to try to convince Donnie. In response, the purple turtle only gave a small moan and buried his entire face in his knees.

Mikey's smile began to fade, something Leo hated to see. He could no longer take this unnecessary wait for Donnie's reply any longer.

With a small huff, he grabbed Donatello's purple mask from the bedside table and knelt down in front of the latter. He grabbed the turtle's ankles and gently pulled on them, causing Donnie's feet and legs to lower from his face and dangle against the side of the bed. He closed his eyes and sighed as he felt Leo work his mask gently around his head, tying a tight knot from behind and letting the extra fabric tails trail over his shoulder. The eldest placed a gentle grip on younger turtle's bicep.

"Donnie, please listen. You have to get ready now. Master Splinter won't take another late day." Not a single reaction was seen or heard in response.

After exchanging understanding looks, Leo and Mikey stood up and began gathering Donatello's gear from the floor. Raph seemed to understood, and took his part by walking behind Donnie and hoisting his tall younger brother up in a standing position from his underarms, startled by how light Donnie was. It was a fact that Donnie was the skinniest and lightest of his brothers, yes, but it seemed that his healthy weight had unnaturally dropped lower these past weeks. He looked lankier than a stick, his muscular arms feelings soft to the touch.

He watched as Leo and Mikey began tying Donnie's elbow and knee pads to the right places, along with his belt straps over his shoulder and connected it to his waist belt. Once finished, they each grabbed an arm and pulled Donnie forward, dragging him to a walk, with Raph pushing Donnie forward from behind, occasionally giving his brother's tight shoulders a gentle squeeze.

It'll be okay, Donnie," Leo stated firmly, pulling a bit harder as they almost completely made it to the dojo, steps away from the entrance, "we'll have to cope more after we're finished with training. You can't afford one more day being late."

Once they all made it to the dojo, with Donnie's brothers removing their grasp on him, they all stood in front of their awaiting rat sensei, Master Splinter. He stroked his beard in curiosity at he sight of his sons, eyeing his second-youngest with slight concern. While the other three were stiffly stood up straight, waiting for his orders, the poor turtle was slumped over, head refusing to lift up, completely silent to the world. The aging rat sighed and lowered his hand from his beard. Making his way over to the weapons rack perched against the far wall, he grabbed his son's bo-staff from its place and walked back to him, gently placing the stick-like weapon into his open hands.

"Come, Donatello," he insured half-heartedly, placing a paw on the turtle's head, "Let's begin training."

* * *

Movies and tapes were thrown all across the pit of the common room, all rejected from the one movie Michelangelo was desperate to seek. He sat on his knees, hunched over a gray crate full of all the entertainment they owned. The crate's contents were beginning to dwindle as a movie or a video game or a tape was hurled out of it and onto the cold floor. His three older brothers constantly had to switch places on the couch in order to avoid a high-flying case being thrown their direction.

"HEY! Watch it!" Raphael swerved his head into a duck as a racecar video game case twirled over his body in a shruiken throw. It clapped loudly on the floor, inches from the sewer pool.

Leonardo rolled his eyes. He kept his gaze intently on his youngest brother in fear of a case heading his, or Donatello's direction, once again. He sat close to the purple-clad turtle, a hand covering one of Donnie's on the latter's lap, the other hand on his shoulder, a position form of steering Donnie from side to side to help him avoid the flying disks, since the poor turtle's state of mind forbade him to do so on his own.

"Will you just PICK A MOVIE, already?!" Raph practically screamed. Patience wearing dangerously thin, he threw the comic book he was reading for passing time and stomped over to his orange-clad brother, who didn't seem to pay much attention to Raph's soon-coming rage.

Mikey began to panic. "I know it's here somewhere, dude! I mean, how hard is it to find Star Wars? The whole case is like, 5 inches worth of movies!"

Raphael's face reddened. "Oh, no!" he said matter-of-factly, "We are NOT going to sit here for a whole 8 hours watching marathons of space nerds and robots fight each other with giant glowing swords!" he knelt down and began tearing through the near-empty crate, desperate to change the subject. "We're watchin' something different!"

"But…Raaaaaphie," the younger turtle whined at an attempt to object, holding up a colorless disk with no case and staring at it forlornly.

Leo turned his attention away from Mikey and Raph's spat, focusing on his other little brother. He lowered his hand from Donnie's shoulder, but kept the other on his balled-up still one.

"Donnie…?" The addressed turtle remained stationary, staying in the same position he preferred the past few days, not uttering a single word. Leo exhaled at the sight of his brother, attempting to try again with words. He wanted him to say _something, _anything to help him set his mood a little more straight and focus on spending time with his brothers.

"Donnie…do _you _know what we should watch?...I think it'd be fair if we let Donnie pick, right guys?" He gestured towards the other two, who continued bickering and weren't aware of the one-sided conversation until they were addressed. Raph awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Uh…yeah, sure. Go for it, Don…I guess?"

They would've expected no answer, and their guess was correct. Donnie didn't even move a muscle. Mikey's bright blue eyes were gazing concernedly at the tall turtle, fumbling restlessly with the holes in the crate. They all waited with uncomfortable silence for the answer they should've known Donatello would not utter, but could not hurt to try, even the simplest of asks was worth the attempt.

Just when they were about to give up on waiting, Raphael already turning back to graze through the cases, after at least 3 days of complete silence…the purple turtle finally produced his first word. His hand tensed under Leo's soft grip on it.

"Mm…tired…"

Leo stared at him for a long time, not finding the right words to respond. Mikey, however, had.

"Umm, dude…we don't own that movie…." A punch on the arm from Raphael silenced his ludicrous statement.

Leo's brows creased in slight confusion. "You're tired…? You sure you don't wanna sit here and watch something with us?" Just when he thought his brother's social behavior couldn't get any stronger, he was quite surprised to see Donnie turn his head in his direction, staring deeply into his sapphire eyes. Leo took note of his face; his brown eyes were slightly tinged with blood-red, he couldn't tell if it was from crying or sleep-deprivation or whatever. His features were completely worn down, as if they had stayed there for an eternity. He looked downright exhausted, although Leo wasn't sure how that could be the case, considering that the purple turtle slept in almost every day.

Donnie slightly nodded his head, further confirming Leo's question. As much as Leo didn't want his younger brother to become unresponsive to them all once again and leave, he also didn't want to upset him any further. He cared nothing more but for Donatello to be happy again, to accept the love that his family was desperately trying to give him, no matter what it was. Unfortunately, going against leader orders and instead following his big-brotherly orders, he decided to give Donatello the comfort he wanted, which was to simply be left alone…once again.

He gently patted Donnie's shoulder. "Alright…you, um, head off to bed then, okay? Tell us if you need anything." He noticed the way his brother began to stand, with much difficulty. "You need any help getting there?" Although Donnie was faced away from him, Leo could easily see the slight shake of his head that signaled a no.

The three brothers watched intently as the tallest brother slowly trudged away from the couch, and finally out of sight into his bedroom and shutting the door behind him.

Raph and Mikey slowly turned back to the discarded entertainment crate. The only thing inside left, safe from being thrown, was a lonely videogame of HALO. Raph picked it up and inspected it awkwardly. "Why don't we just play some videogames, 'kay, Mikey?"

"Sure thing, bro," the younger turtle replied, smiling afterwards, "besides, I already kicked your butt the last three times we played this. Better keep my record straight!"

"You're gonna get your butt kicked for real if you don't stop gloating!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Wanna test me, dork?!"

"Maybe.."

As the two were setting up the game, continuing their argument, Leo noted how they seemed to have forgotten about Donnie altogether. He was relieved by the thought, not wanting any more of his family to suffer one's behavior. He smiled and shook his head, standing up and proceeding to pick up the fallen cases thrown all over the floor. The sounds of the chancy theme of HALO filled his ears, along with Raph and Mikey's voices. As he finished cleaning, his attention kept shifting back to the bedrooms, where Donnie had last been seen. The urge to check on his brother was uplifting every time his eyes glimpsed in the room's direction. He knew the brainy turtle wanted his space, but also knew that he was getting too much of it. His worry level was expanding drastically.

His spot on the couch was currently being occupied by Raphael. The forest-green turtle was hunched over, full attention on the blaring screen and game controller gripped tightly in hand. Michelangelo was laid back against a beanbag chair, legs crossed and controller resting leisurely in his lap. Their argument was still going strong, even as they were already playing, but Leo decided to ignore.

"I'll be right back, guys," he told them absently, even sure that they probably didn't hear him. He turned towards the bedroom hall, slowly making his way out of the common room and right in front of Donatello's bedroom door. He inhaled, breath frozen in place as his fist lightly racked the door, praying that Donnie could hear it.

"Donnie?" No response sounded from the other side.

With reluctance, the leader in blue placed his hand on the doorknob and turned it. The door squeaked quietly, causing him to wince, but continued and peaked through the door, He looked on the far corner of his room and saw his brother laying still on his bed. Pushing the door open enough for him to slide through, he walked over to Donnie's bed. He released the breath he held in for a while, relieved to see that Donnie was sleeping.

_Wow, he said he was tired, but…_

The purple-clad turtle was lying on his plastron, his face buried in his pillow and his sheets thrown over the side of his bed. His breathing was light and steady, back slowly rising and descending with each breath. Leo's eyes softened, his heart dropping at the sight of Donnie's T-phone gripped tightly in the turtle's hand, the same photo he had always stared at on the already-dimming screen as it was about to shut off.

_Oh, Donnie, _he thought sadly, _what have you been doing to yourself?_

The leader grabbed the phone from his brother's grasp and turned it off, setting it on the bedside table. He retrieved the blankets from the edge of the bed and spread them lightly over Donnie's back, covering all but his shoulders, head and arms. He rubbed small circles on his shell, happy to see that his brother looked more relaxed and not depressed. Sleep was obviously doing a good job to help him recover from his sad feelings, which Leo absolutely hated seeing him like that. He knew his brother needed help, but at this point, after two weeks of silence, the brainy turtle was over the point of sick. He was sick with extreme sadness, his endurance and strength lowering drastically, his brain level decreasing, and his participation in every family thing they did never coming to use anymore. And all because of a friendship departure…

After a few pats on his shell, Leo made his way back towards the door, walking sideways to keep his eyes on his brother the whole time, all the way up behind the entrance, and finally shutting the door. He sighed and closed his eyes tight, bringing his hand up to his face and massaged the bridge of his nose in deep worry. He knew absolutely nothing could be done right, nor the lighter mood of the whole lair and the family inside it, could be better once more without the old Donatello back. He wanted Donnie to understand how badly he was hurting the whole family. Mikey could barely smile, Raph stayed more distant, Master Splinter urged him harder more than he needed to, and Leo was just torn inside without all of his brothers in good shape, the perfect shape for him to lead them and be the eldest brother to them.

He couldn't even bear for this thought to cross his mind anymore, but if Donatello couldn't be fixed soon…ultimate drastic measures would have to be taken, something Leo would never even bear to do, even to his brothers. It wasn't like death, no, but to him, it felt like it would be.

Donatello needed help now…it would only be a matter of time until something….


	3. Chapter 2-Change

Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT

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Raph and Leo stood over their younger brother Donnie, watching him as he slept peacefully under the blankets in his bed. They had been standing there for at least twenty minutes. Mikey, after a long period of gaming with Raph, had been claimed tired and retired in his room for a "before-patrol" nap, as he called it. Master Splinter sat deep in meditation in the dojo, leaving the two elder brothers the only ones awake in the whole lair. They couldn't find anything terribly exciting to do since the thought of Donatello pierced their minds with almost every considerate thing they did. Having nothing that would keep their minds off Donnie to do, they both eventually came together to go check up on him and try to sort things out.

Donnie's position had changed since Leo had last checked on him about three hours ago. Instead on lying on his stomach, the young turtle was flipped onto his back with the blankets only covering up to his chest, with his arms hanging out. Yet it put Leo at ease knowing that his brother continued to get the rest he needed with no troubles.

The blue-banded turtle rested a hand on Donnie's forehead, making sure that he wasn't burning up with any sort of fever, just in case. "I don't know how we're going to get through to him, Raph, but we need to keep trying."

Raph didn't respond right away. He would've usually retorted by telling the "fearless leader" that he would be the one coming up with good plans, but as the dire situation called for itself, the family knew that they needed to work together to raise Donnie's spirits. The issue was knowing exactly what needed to be done in order for that to be accomplished.

"Yeah, well…what should we do?" he said quietly, eyes dimming at the sight of his bedridden brother, watching the stable rise and fall of his chest. Truthfully, it made him upset knowing that he hasn't seen Donnie smile the familiar gap-toothed grin in so long.

Leo sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, stroking the genius turtle's forehead soothingly. "He's obviously like this because of April…I think we should go talk to her, tell her how much he's suffering. I know she'll try to push us away, but she needs to know how much she's hurting Donnie."

"And how are we gonna do that? Y'know she wants no part of us anymore. We might as well just give up on'er."

His last sentence jarred something inside the leader. In silence, he stood from the bed and grabbed Donatello's T-phone from the nightstand, turning it on and already expecting the familiar image on the screen to show up. He handed it to Raph and spoke in an almost tight voice. "He's had this picture on his phone for weeks, Raph. He's never used his phone for anything else; I suspect he's only used it just to look at this only image. Now tell me this won't add on to the theory that he needs to see April again to sort this problem out."

Raphael remained silent, his fingers cramping around the back of the phone tightly as he stared deeper into the picture of his immediate younger brother and former human friend. He honestly didn't know what to say. Donnie really went that far to do this to himself, torture himself with the memories of April even further? What needed to be done in order to stop this madness? Raph sighed and looked up at Leo, handing the phone back to him. "…So? What's going down? How're we gonna get April to understand?"

Leo cast his gaze down back to the sleeping Donnie, settling himself back down next to his body and placing his hand over his. "I don't know, Raph. It's just…I can't stand seeing and going through another day with Donnie like this. It just isn't right. I know that he's really close to April, but we're all learning to cope; he should to. I just wish that he'd at least acknowledge that we're doing everything we can to make him feel better." He heaved a deep breath, for the first time realizing that he didn't know what to do in his position as leader. However, this situation probably didn't call on leaderish instincts. This was his sibling; his little brother. He may not see it, but Donnie needed his older brothers and Mikey more than anything at this point. He was starting to grow desperate of the point to get the intelligent turtle to tell him whatever it was he needed.

Raphael crossed his arms and closed his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to have his genius brother back to the way he was. No moping over a girl that they had been friends with. No secluding himself from the world. If only…

A sound suddenly startled them both, causing them to look up in alarm at the source. Donnie's eyes remained closed, but his mouth was agape in a jaw-cracking yawn. Raph and Leo exchanged puzzled looks before looking back down at their brother. After his yawn, his eyes slowly opened, blearily staring from one brother to the other in question. "Wha.?" had came out his mouth in a tiny whisper.

Raph gave a tiny smirk and stepped up behind the sitting Leo. "Hey there, buddy," he greeted almost warmly, yet uneasily, trying to hide it. "Have a good nap?" Donnie remained silent, only lowering his eyelids a little as if he wanted to sleep some more. Leo had thought this to be the theory and gently shook his brother's shoulder.

"C'mon, Donnie, wake up," he said softly, "we've got to go on patrol in about an hour. We don't want you late for that, now do we?" He rubbed up and down on the turtle's arm, trying to make Donnie speak to him in some way. His only reply was a look of sadness in his big brown, innocent-looking eyes, working themselves into Leo's soul and immediately causing him heartbreak. He hated seeing that look. Mikey had a similar, yet more comical look when used to beg for something. But in Donnie, Leo had noticed that he naturally would make this look when something hurt him emotionally, and just the sight of it would put many puppy dog stares to shame.

Leo took his gaze off long enough to turn to Raph and instruct him. "Raph, go wake Mikey and tell him it's almost time." The red-banded turtle nodded and rushed out, and Leo turned back to Donnie. Sliding an arm under the genius turtle's back, he gently and slowly lifted him from the cushiony pillows and into a sitting position. He then slid the same arm around his shoulders in a half-hug.

"Ready to go out tonight, Don?" he said, almost reassuringly.

Donnie said nothing.

Usually nights were cold, or at least cool, but this particularly warm evening had even caused the winds to secrete tepid air, not becoming beneficial for relief to the already sweating, tired turtles. They had many run ins with the Purple Dragon members scattered all over the city, but nothing too serious had gone down.

"Okay, guys, let's rest here for a bit," said Leo, stopping himself to halt on top of an apartment building right next to a ventilation duct. Raphael and Michelangelo almost practically passed out after collapsing to the ground in exhaustion, both of them savoring the nice cool feeling of the roof meeting their heated bodies. Donatello barely let out puffs of air to catch his breath, stepping a few inches away from his brothers and facing away from them. The other three didn't seem to notice.

"Are we…" Mikey started in-between heavy breaths, lying flat on his shell while he lifted his head in an upside-down angle to stare at Leo, "Are we…done…yet…_dude?"_

Leonardo lifted his hands off his kneepads from a short breather and stood up tall. "Not quite, Mikey. We still need to check up on any signs of the Kraang, make sure they're not anywhere else trying to do anything involving the…" he hesitated, know where he was going, "…lost canisters of mutagen." He winced slightly and hoped that Donnie hadn't heard him. Of course he did, though. The incident with the scattered mutagen canisters was the reason why they had lost April's friendship in the first place. Seeing her father mutated because of the turtles' reckless battle with the Kraang stealth ship had ruined everything.

Raph and Mikey's eyes darted up towards Donnie's direction, expecting a reaction, but of course didn't get any.

After a while longer, Leo sighed pleasantly and brushed his hands together. "You guys ready to take off on the Kraang stakeout?"

"Yeah!" Both the red and orange-banded turtles threw themselves off the ground, their replenished energy kicking back into high gear. Off towards the edge of the rooftop, Donnie stood up and stretched, bones popping loudly before facing his brothers and slowly walking their direction. Leo stood directly in front of them, turning away to gaze out into the city.

"Let's go."

Before they could even prepare to jump to the next rooftop, however, they stopped when they suddenly heard a strange whirring noise. Leo groaned, hands already reaching to his katanas. He and his brothers had fought enough of these things to know exactly what they were.

His guess was correct. In front of them popped up five robot foot ninjas, weapons at ready. Mikey gasped, Raph growled and retrieved his sais from his belt, and Leo kept a steady gaze on the enemies, slowly trying to back himself and his brothers away from them.

"Uhhh, Leo…" Mikey's voice chimed nervously behind him. Leo turned his direction, his eyes hardening at the sight of advancing Foot ninja that were behind them and coming from both sides. The four brothers were surrounded by the uncounted robots approaching dangerously, with Leo not know which one would attack first. He gazed at the other three individually. He could practically see a part of Raphael trying to hold the rest of himself back to prevent from just all of a sudden rushing into the start of the battle. He knew how much his brother loved to fight. Michelangelo had his nunchucks orbiting continuously, his usually cheery face replaced with an eager-to-fight, yet concentrated face. Leonardo could not see Donatello's expression, but was happy to see that the young turtle was just as ready to fight as the others, his bo-staff gripped a little too tightly in hand.

"Dude, duck!" shouted Raph suddenly in Leo's direction. Not entirely sure if he was addressing him or not, the leader made a blind duck and saw a trade of differently-designed shruiken sailing over him, followed by the noise of a malfunctioning robot. He looked over and saw a ninja twitching uneasily as three of the Hamato Clan throwing stars were lodged deep in its chest, before falling forward with a thud. Over to his right, Raph shouted, "Yeah!"

This did not seem to suit well with the fallen ninja's colleagues, and they all attacked to turtles all at once. Leo dodged and deflected each attack with a swift swipe of his twin swords, gliding through the battle with ease. Fighting these robots was no longer a problem once after learning that they attacked depending on reading how the turtles regularly fought. All they had to do was do the unexpected, attack in a way the ninjas wouldn't know how to retaliate with.

Unfortunately, he began to notice that more and more Foot were emerging from the sides of the roof, each one taking the place of a downed one. He was starting to wonder where they came from, but refused to give in. He fought a bit harder, seeing if it would quicken the heat of the battle.

"Dudes, where are they all coming from?!" Mikey yelled off to Leo's left. With a slap of a single baton, he managed to take down three enemy ninjas coming at him with katana swords. He brought out his kusarigama blade, proceeding to slash through the wired abdomen of one trying to attack him from behind.

He stood up tall and gazed at his surroundings. Not one living Foot ninja seemed to be coming his direction, instead pressing on his older brothers. Even though they seemed to be fighting with little problems, he looked at each one frantically, wondering which one he should help first.

Donnie suddenly moaned in discomfort, instantly catching the youngest turtle's attention. He noticed his immediate older brother rubbing his temple with one hand, eyes closed tight in pain. His staff hung limply in his other hand. He didn't seem to be aware of the remaining ninjas gradually focusing their attention on him.

"Donnie!" Mikey shouted, sprinting over to the addressed turtle and grabbing his arm. "You alright, dude?" he said in concern.

Donnie moaned again. "Just…headache…" he answered quietly, raising Mikey's confusion. Before the freckled turtle could ask what he meant, he heard the metallic sound of approaching Foot coming from behind. One of them had a set of throwing stars ready to be tossed.

Beginning to panic, Mikey tugged on his brother's arm a bit harder, urging him to get to safety. "You got a headache? Then go duck and cover somewhere where you're not in the way, man!" Donnie didn't budge, nor did he even acknowledge his little brother. The painful throbbing in his head was growing stronger.

"Donnie, what are you doing?!" Raph shouted at him.

The Foot with the throwing stars set an accurate and steady aim at Donnie's head and shoulders. Mikey had already decimated the other soldiers trying to attack the two, but didn't seem to notice the single one ready to strike the purple turtle until the last second. His eyes widened as the stars flew a swift distance, cutting through the air and ready to cut into his brother's flesh and bone. "Donnie!" he screamed once more, running towards the tall turtle and ramming himself into Donnie's side, knocking them both flat on the concrete roof.

The painful impact on the ground to his head was not beneficial to Donatello's supposed headache. His head had practically set off bombs from the soreness that ailed him all around. With much effort, he managed to sit himself upright, wincing many times and trying to blink the stars out of his eyes, not paying a single drop of attention to the sound of soft groaning sounding beside him.

Michelangelo was on his knees, gripping the areas around his arm and leg agonizingly where the throwing stars had deeply pierced the skin on both left appendages, two in his arm and three in his leg.

Raphael's jaw dropped open, his sais forgotten. "MIKEY!" he screamed. He was over to his brother's side in less than two seconds, grimacing at the sight of the blood pouring out of each cut from each shruiken. He tripped over his words nervously, not even sure what to do to help the little one.

Mikey tried to smile, despite the obvious pain. "S'alright, bro, heh," he choked, trying to shift his weight on his good side, "I'm all good…somewhat. Don't go cryin' on me or—OW!...or anything, alright, dude?" _He's hurt and he's _still _trying to crack jokes, _thought Raph. This somehow put him at some ease, knowing that his little brother was going to be fine, but this did not mean that he did not need medical attention straightaway. Carefully, he slipped his over Mikey's shell and placed his good arm over his shoulder, slowly trying to help his brother stand up.

Meanwhile, Leonardo glanced from each distracted brother to the now _fifty _Foot soldiers coming their ways from all sides except the edge of the roof where he began to back towards. He was in range of the fallen Donatello, who was still holding his head in smarting pain. Mikey also had noticed the numerous ninjas headed their way steadily, but not Raph. His attention was still too focused on his brother's injuries. Leo shook his head. There was nothing they could do. They needed to retreat.

"We need to move! NOW!" Sliding his katanas back into their sheaths, he slipped his arms under Donnie's knees and back and picked him up bridal style. "Raph! C'mon, we need to go!" he yelled over his shoulder. Raphael looked at the enemy number before nodding at Leo. He instructed Mikey to wrap his arms around his neck so that he could carry the little one piggyback style.

The two elder brothers ducked their heads as weapons of all kinds sailed over their heads in missed arcs. "Let's go!" Leo cried over the noise of the commotion. With their younger brothers tight in grip, the four ninjas disappeared over the side of the building, landing in the alleyway below. Leo looked up and could see the enemy starting to follow their trail.

"C'mon!" he motioned to Raph with his shoulder. The two ran out of the alley and tried to be as stealthy as they could as they rushed through the empty streets ahead of them, their brothers only slightly weighing them down. The sight of the approaching ninjas behind them started to get smaller as they eventually came across a small area behind the outside of an abandoned garage. They wedged themselves in between the small space, Raph trying his best not to scrunch Mikey's injured leg and arm against the tight wall.

"You doin' okay, Mikey?" he whispered. The youngest had his head rested on his brother's shoulder, but made a thumbs-up sign with one of his hands gripped against the red-clad turtle's neck. Raph smiled.

Leo unconsciously pressed Donnie closer to his chest, keeping his eyes out against the corner of the street, trying his best to stay hidden as he witnessed the robot soldiers running right past them, relieved to see that they didn't sense them.

What do we do now, Fearless? We're kinda on a time schedule here," said Raph directly next to him, motioning to Mikey. Leo brought his head back, looking around, patiently trying to find a means of escape. Below him, Donnie had his eyes closed.

"Look Leo, there!" Mikey murmured quietly, pointing in the direction to their left. A few feet away sat a manhole cover. Judging from their position in the city, it was assumed that it wouldn't be hard to make their way home.

The blue-clade turtle breathed out a puff of relief. "Okay, we need to be quiet," he warned. Silently, he stood up, bringing his tall brother up with him. Raph followed suit. Slowly, standing only on their three toes, they made their way over to the manhole. Leo bent down and lifted it up with one hand, using his head to motion to Raph to jump in first. Once he did so, the leader used his shell to keep the cover up while cautiously jumping in, causing it to fall back into place.

The Foot Soldiers continued to seek the four mutant heroes they planned to kill, unaware that they had disappeared into the night.

Leo and Donnie were the first ones past the turnstiles in the lair, with Raph and Mikey close on Leo's heels. Leo placed Donnie to sit on the couch, stepping back to make way for Raph. The green-eyed turtle gently placed the younger on a nearby beanbag chair, and ran to Donnie's lab to get the first-aid kit. Mikey appeared to be just fine, even if he occasionally stared at his bleeding leg from time to time.

Donatello's head had cleared up a bit, making him more aware of what had happened. He stared forlornly at his younger brother, wishing that he'd be the one to patch him up. But he….just couldn't. He knew he had already messed up for the night, he was sure he couldn't stand to do more.

Raph returned a few seconds later, the first-aid kit bouncing noisily against the side of his leg. He settled himself beside Mikey and immediately began to work on his injuries, starting by carefully removing the sharp weapons from his body. He had noted that the throwing stars thankfully hadn't cut through anything vital, causing him to sigh in relief. Michelangelo was a good candidate throughout the entire procedure, not once crying out in pain as Raph worked on him. He even gave his hotheaded brother a smile to show him that he was okay.

Donnie sniffled, watching the two bond while fixing the orange turtle's wounds. He knew that making the slightest mention of how those wounds were caused would cause an unimaginable amount of tension, but he had to get it off his chest. For his brothers. For Michelangelo.

He cleared his throat softly, sitting edgily from his spot on the couch. Gaze cast down, he whispered, "Are you…okay, Mikey?"

He noticed Raphael instantly stop his actions, halfway through wrapping the bandages on Mikey's arm. Slowly, he turned to Donnie, an expression that showed both confusion and annoyance. Donnie knew it. He knew he was going to get chewed out, and he could tell it wasn't going to be pretty.

"What did you say, Donnie?" Raph asked in a wary tone. Donnie could practically feel the restrained rage that was bubbling inside the hothead.

"I-I asked if he was okay—"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Donnie! Didn't think you had the heart to say that many minutes _later _after you stopped caring for yourself." The words that coupled with the sarcasm in his voice had hit the staff-wielding turtle _hard, _right in the heart.

"Raph…" Leo warned, but the angry turtle silenced him. He stood up, glaring at Donnie.

"Oh look, I'm Donnie: the turtle who's been moping over some girl," he mocked, "I've been caring over her way more than my own family that's been doing every single freaking thing in the world to try to help me get over my mood. But no; I care more about some small headache than my own brother!"

Tears had already prickled Donnie's eyes, making them glisten sadly at his older brother, who wasn't at all fazed. "Raph, I didn't mean to—"

"Didn't mean to?! You knew, Donnie! You KNEW Mikey was hurt and you didn't give a care in the world for him! Instead you held your head as if it was the most important thing in the world! You don't look it's hurting you now, huh? What's the deal with that?!" He jabbed a finger to the taller turtle's chest, urging a logical answer out of him. The tears did not leave Donnie's eyes, but he managed a small glare back at Raph.

"I didn't know what it was, alright? It j-just came out of nowhere. It was probably just a random ache that all people get whenever they're…."

"They're what, genius?"

"…depressed…" The skinny turtle looked down in shame. As soon as the word escaped him, he knew how ridiculous his statement had sounded.

"Well, you're not people. Tough luck," Raph retorted, "You're a ninja turtle, who's perfectly capable of fighting through things _worse _than a headache to protect his family! Garbage, Donnie, all nonsense."

That was enough for the tears to flow. Donatello squeezed his eyes tightly shut, letting them spill out of his eyes and stain his mask with wet streaks. "R-Raph, you don't understand…"

"Understand _what, _Donnie? What is it that I possibly couldn't understand from you?! As far as I know, you don't want anyone, not even your own family to help you because you think what you have with April is special and actually worth something! Well, news flash, bro: she's just a human! A person we ran into by accident and didn't have to help! She's just like the rest of 'em; they all find us freaks, and we'll stay that way! Just give up on 'er already, Donnie!"

Leonardo didn't know whether to scold Raph, to comfort the now crying Donnie, or to escort Mikey out of the room. He stared at his red-clad brother in surprise, not expecting to talk bad on not only Donnie, but April as well. Is that how he really saw her?

He grabbed Donnie by his shoulders and sat him back down on the couch, leaving the room and returning shortly after to hand his brother a few tissues.

"Donnie…" he started quietly, almost sincerely, watching the young turtle wipe at his eyes, "even though Raph was being way too hard…" he stopped to glare at Raph, who crossed his arms and glared back. "…to be candid, I—we just want you to realize that we've been doing all we can to make you feel better. Raph and I barely sleep because we're always talking late at night about what we can do to get you out of your room. Mikey's been waiting for you to fix some of his broken electronics, but you won't even go in your lab." The orange-clad turtle picked at the wrappings on his foot, nodding in turn.

"Master Splinter keeps giving alternate training sessions because you won't give your best effort," Leo pressed on, "and the worst of all, Donnie, is that you're hurting us. We're just trying to help you, and you're pushing us away, leaving us out of your life. Please, Don, just _please _give us the chance to help you through this. Stop ignoring us. Because there's really nothing else we can do, and if you choose to keep us away…we'll have no choice but to give up on you."


End file.
